26 May 2014

Getting out the Grudge Vote

Voter apathy is bad, but logical in the British voting system. If your area is solid Tory or Labour and you support another party, it can seem rather pointless to vote, since the candidate with the most votes wins outright. They may only get 40% of the total, but whoever has the largest number of votes wins. This unfairness is why some people call for proportional representation instead. But that is very unappealing; we want our local MP.

The Grudge Voting system will square this circle.

Here's how it works: The candidate
with the most votes wins the seat, same as now. But their power in
Parliament for the next 5 years depends on what % of the votes they got. Take an MP who wins a seat with 60% of the vote.
In the current system they have 1 vote in Parliament. Under my system
they would only have 0.6 of a vote. And an MP who won with just a 35% share - which is not unusual - would in Parliament get only 0.35 of a
vote.

The power of the elected
MPs in Parliament would therefore directly reflect the amount support
they command in their constituencies.

That's fairness for you. And the beauty of the system
is that nobody's vote is now wasted. If you are a Labour voter living in a
solid Conservative constituency, it is worth going out to vote
Labour - your candidate won't win, but your vote directly helps to reduce
the Tory MP's power in the next parliament. Same thing if you are a Conservative voter
living in a solid Labour area. It's also worth voting for a minority
party; they won't get in, but now you can help to reduce the clout
of the winner.

Hence the title, the Grudge Voting system. It appeals to that deeply felt need to do the other side down. Just the ticket for alienated, fed-up Brits!